Friends for lunch, a family birthday or a cocktail party, this zesty Thai Prawn Salad would be a cracking addition for any occasion.  This could be served as entree, main or in individual lettuce cups that will take the occasion from the sublime to the ridiculous! Wok tossed prawns immersed in the traditional Thai flavours of lemongrass, ginger, garlic,chilli, fish sauce and lime juice.  Fresh, simple and …….yep.  Emmalicious!

Prep time:  15 Minutes          Cooking time:  5  Minutes             $- $$  Low-Medium Budget

Serves 4 (as a light lunch)

Peanut oil for frying

500gm green prawn meat, roughly chopped

6 coriander stalks, washed well

1 lemongrass stalk (white part only), roughly chopped

3cm piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1 long red chilli, roughly chopped

3 Kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded (roll them in a tight little wad and slice about 1mm thick)

3 spring onions, finely sliced diagonally

3 tbs of fish sauce

Juice of 1 lime

11/2 tsp of caster sugar

2 tbs of finely chopped coriander

1 baby cos lettuce, whole leaves removed and washed

Place the lemongrass, chilli, garlic, ginger and coriander stalks in your food processor, turbo chef (love mine) or mortar and pestle and blitz or pound to a fine paste.  If you don’t have either of these you can chop finely with a good kitchen knife using a back and forth/up and down motion (like the chefs do!).

Place the paste and the chopped prawns in a bowl with a dash of oil and mix well to coat all the prawns.

Heat a wok to smoking hot and add a little peanut oil.  Toss the prawns in the wok for 2-3 minutes on a really high heat until just starting to change colour.  Sprinkle in half of the lime leaf, spring onion and all of the coriander and then pour in the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar.  Continue tossing with a large spoon or tongs for 1-2 minutes more.

Arrange the salad leaves on each plate and divide the prawn mixture on top of the leaves.  Sprinkle over the remaining lime leaves and spring onions and serve.

To serve cocktail style, use the inner baby leaves of the lettuce and top with the prawn mixture or finely shred the leaves and place the lettuce and a small amount of mixture on little Chinese spoons……a little wow factor goes a long way!